A true friend
by TheChairGod
Summary: I'm sorry that you have to read this. I had to take a moral from To Kill a Mockingbird and put it into a story for school and then this just happened. There is a lot of grammar errors because I was in a hurry to finish before the deadline. So go on an adventure in this AU with the new transfer student, Makoto Tachibana, on his first day of school at Iwatobi High school.


The cherry blossom petals fell, painting the street pink as Makoto Tachibana, in full uniform with toast in his mouth, ran to school. It was only the first day of school, and he was already running late to the first day festivities. The last thing that he needed was to be late to the first day of school at his new school. He didn't need the reputation of 'the late kid' at this high school too. His light brown hair bounced up and down as he sprinted into the gate of his new high school, Iwatobi High School.

He slowed down at the entrance of the school building where he veered right to the class lists posted outside. He traced his finger up and down the board reading names frantically searching for his name under the second year category.

 _Akiyama… Fukui… Honda… Ito… There it is Tachibana! Looks like I am in class 2-B this year._ He thought to himself.

Once he was finished looking at the list, he rushed inside the building to change his shoes. He hastily looked for the shoe locker with his name written on it. Once he located his locker, he hastily changed his shoes from his outdoor shoes to his indoor shoes and rushed down the hall.

As Makoto ran down the hall, he noticed that all the classrooms that he was passing were empty.

 _They aren't in class? They must still be at the entrance ceremony… but where is the school's multi use room?_ Makoto pondered.

Makoto walked around the halls searching for the rest of the school until his searching efforts were disrupted.

"Excuse me! Young man!"

Makoto turned to see a woman with short brown hair and deep brown eyes that blended in with the brown business suit she was wearing. She stood across the hall studying Makoto as he approached her.

"Yes, teacher?" Makoto responded.

"The entrance ceremony is this way. Are you new around here? I haven't seen you before."

"Yes. I just moved here from Kyoto."

"Well, enough small talk. This way."

The woman took him through the halls into the school gym where all the other students were. He was directed to sit in the back of the gym with other students. As he sat in the room, he tried to focus on the ceremony but with each passing speech he felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

Just as Makoto was about to fall asleep, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked to the left of himself to find a boy who was smaller than he was staring back at him with bright pink eyes and messy blond hair.

"I would suggest not sleeping. I may only be a first year here, but I can tell that sleeping during this ceremony might be a bad idea," whispered the boy.

"Oh… yeah. Thanks for waking me. The ceremony is just so boring. My old school had much more extravagant ceremonies compared to this one," replied Makoto.

"Wait… you're not a first year are you? You are wearing the same color tie on your uniform as the second years," inquired the boy.

"No, no. I am a second year. I just transferred here from the Kyoto prefecture," confirmed Makoto

"Wow! Kyoto, Japan! I went on my second year trip in middle school there! It was so nice. There was so much there to do and see and I just-"

"Keep it down over there boys," one of the teachers commanded from behind them.

"Ahh, you keep it down," mumbled the boy. "Anyways, my name is Nagisa Hazuki, first year, class C. Nice to meet ya!"

"Makoto Tachibana, second year, class B."

"I have a feeling that we are going to be good friends Tachibana-kun. Say, are you doing anything at lunch?"

"No-"

"You should eat lunch with me and my friend Rei! We will come up and eat with you."

"Oh. Yeah. That would be nice actually since I don't really know anyone here yet."

"I guess I will see you then because it looks like the ceremony is already over."

Makoto looked up to see students filing out of the room and pouring into the hallways. He stood up and looked down at Nagisa whom he towered over. Nagisa looked up at him and waved running off into crowd. Makoto turned and left the room for his first day of classes at Iwatobi High School.

As the bell finally rang to dismiss the class for lunch, Makoto drew his gaze away from the window and back into the real world. He had already spent a whole entire day of class daydreaming out the window.

Makoto sighed as he reached into his bag at his desk and pulled his bento box out. He unwrapped his food and began to eat his lunch.

"You started eating without us? Man, talk about being rude!"

Makoto looked up and was greeted by the same bubbly face from the awards assembly and the face of a more serious boy who stood tall with an athlete's build and glasses.

"I apologize Hazuki-kun. Who is your friend?"

"Oh, this is Rei-chan! He is a friend from middle school."

The boy blushed and looked at Makoto.

"I am Rei Ryugazaki, first year, class A. I am sorry for any trouble that Nagisa may have caused!"

"Trouble?"

"I know that he can be a handful and-"

"Oh no, not at all. Please sit and make yourself comfortable and eat. I am Makoto Tachibana, second year, class B. I pleased to meet you Ryugazaki-kun."

"You guys are so boring with formal names. Come on Mako-chan," interjected Nagisa.

"Mako-chan?" questioned Makoto.

"Nagisa!" Rei yelled. "That is disrespectful to Tachibana-senpai."

"Eh, whatever," Nagisa responded coolly.

Makoto chuckled as the two first years argued over the honorifics and began to space out thinking about everything he had to look forward to this year so far. He already had two friends, his teachers seemed kind, and his classmates seemed like very diligent workers, for the exception of one.

He turned his attention to the boy sitting two seats to his left. The boy sat with an empty gaze in his baby blue eyes on his pale face that was framed by his smooth, black hair. Makoto got lost in thought as he stared at the boy until the boy looked over at him. Makoto quickly averted his glare, but it was too late. The boy saw him and immediately stood up and left the room. Makoto looked back over and watched the boy storm out of the room. The spectacle of him exiting was enough to silence those in the room.

It took a minute for the classroom to return to its normal chatter filled state.

"Who was that anyways?" asked Makoto.

"Oh… him," began Nagisa. "That is Haruka Nanase. He is a strange one. Never talks and is obsessed with water. Some people say it is because he was raised by dolphins while others say that he was a dolphin in a past lifetime. Some people even go as far as to say that he thinks he is a fish and calls himself a fishkin survivor or something like that. I know they are all rumors, but he is a super big social outcast. Getting seen with him is enough to ruin your reputation for good. That is the only reason I haven't befriended him. He has no friends come to think of it. I always see him alone. It has been that way as long as I can remember. Even though he is a year above me, we have gone to the same schools through our whole education."

"And nobody likes him?" Asked Makoto.

"Oh no. You're not thinking about it are you. That is social suicide. Just promise me you'll stay away from him," Nagisa plead.

"Alright. I will stay away," Makoto promised.

The school bell rang once more freeing the students of Iwatobi High School from their classes. Makoto put his things into his bag dreading the walk home he was going to have to take. There was not a cloud in the sky this morning, but it was pouring rain now. After Makoto left his classroom on the second floor, he wandered the corridors slowly in no hurry to get home.

He passed through the halls of his new school and drank in the scent of the sweet rain water as it met with the cherry blossom trees wafting in from an open window. He observed the way the gutters on the roof overflowed with the water from the April showers that pelted the ground like tears from the sky.

As he watched the rain water gather, he thought about his conversation earlier with Nagisa and the water boy who was hated by everyone.

 _He must love the rain,_ Makoto thought to himself. _When is rains, the water gets everywhere. If he loves water as much as everyone says then he must love it when it is easily accessible to him._ Makoto stood staring out the window thinking about the waterboy until he remembered the promise he made to Nagisa. _No, no, no, NO. I cannot break that promise,_ Makoto reminded himself. _Maybe I should just go home. It doesn't look like the rain is going to get any better and the school won't stay open forever._

Makoto left the window he was staring out of and headed down stairs to the shoe lockers. He took his time changing out of his shoes not wanting to walk home in the rain. When Makoto finished he turned to leave only to see none other than the waterboy, Haruka, standing right next to him.

"OH, GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE." Makoto screamed.

After couple minutes of silence the boy responded.

"This is my shoe locker. I am going home," he responded in a monotone voice.

"Oh… I'm sorry. You just scared me a-and I was just about to leave."

"You don't have an umbrella."

"You can have mine. I don't need it. I like the water."

"Oh, is that right… I wouldn't want to take that from you though. You don't deserve to get soaked in weather like this."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Then so would I. I like the water."

"So I've heard... "

"Please I insist. Take it."

Haruka continued to try to shove the umbrella into Makoto's arms until Makoto finally came up with a compromise.

"Nanase-kun, Why don't we just share your umbrella? This way neither of us will get wet."

"I suppose that would work, but isn't that what couples do when it rains?"

Makoto stopped and thought about what Haruka was saying and began to blush at the thought of the idea.

"Let's just go."

Makoto grabbed Haruka by the arm and dragged him outside with the umbrella over both of their heads. He began to walk quickly away from the school with Haruka trotting behind him under the umbrella.

As they walked down the street it was dead silent. Both boys stood under the umbrella as they moved along the path silently not daring to say a word until one of them mustered up the nerve to say something.

"Do you hate me?" Haruka asked.

"Why would you ask something so random Nanase-kun?" Makoto responded.

"Well everyone else hates me, and you were looking at me weird earlier today."

"I don't hate you, and I'm sorry for staring. You're an interesting person for the record I guess. It's just that I have never met anyone who can eat mackerel during a lesson without getting caught."

"Mackerel is yummy. You should try it."

"Maybe later."

"Do you believe the others?"

"What?"

"Do you think that I am a dolphin boy or the waterboy like the others say?"

Makoto took his time to respond to this one. He didn't want to break the promise he made to Nagisa, but he didn't want to hurt Haruka either.

"To tell you the truth, I have been warned not to talk to you. I've been told that you're a social outcast and that talking to you is social suicide."

"Yet you're walking with me now?"

"Well we are sharing an umbrella."

"Right. I have one last question for you and then I will stop."

"And that is?"

"How do you know where I live?"

"What?"

"My house. It is right there at the end of the block. How did you know?"

"I didn't. Mine is right across the street."

"I guess that makes you my neighbor then. I will see you tomorrow in class."

"Yeah. I will. Here is your umbrella back. Until tomorrow Nanase-kun."

"Haru. Call me Haru."

"R-really? We only met today."

"Yeah. If you actually took time out of your day to actually interact with me then I think that it is okay if you call my by my first name. Nobody at school ever talks to me except teachers. It was refreshing to talk today."

"You're not as terrible as they say you are. For the record you're really kind. I would be happy if you called me Mako from this point forward."

Haruka looked up at Makoto with a glint in his blank eyes as if something had been awakened inside of him. For the first time that day, Haru smiled and nodded at Mako's request.

"Until tomorrow, Mako."

"Until tomorrow Haru."

Makoto and Haruka began to walk in the respective direction towards their houses until Makoto turned around and ran back up to Haruka.

"I was thinking that we could have lunch together tomorrow, Haru. Would you like that?"

"I would love that."

Makoto smiled and giggled as he left his new found friend's side for the second time that day. Promise or not, Makoto was thankful for finding his new friend. Even if everyone gave him a bad time for it. He would help the others see that Haru was no different from them and not to judge a book by its cover.


End file.
